[cactus_farmer]

I'm planning to get a warm solid state class A amp to complement something like a Topping DX5 (which is very clinical and neutral).

I want the difference between the two units to be obvious. Not like you have to squint and convince yourself it's there, or a change only evident when paying attention to a miniscule detail and A/B'ing the units within seconds - I want it to be obviously warmer sounding than the Topping unit...

Is there such a thing out there? Preferably with power to drive almost any headphone? And preferably a DAC/amp combo...?

I'm not going to go down the tube path because of how finicky and delicate they are - but I essentially want as tube-like a sound as a solid state unit can possibly get?

 

[jonathan c]

I'm planning to get a warm solid state class A amp to complement something like a Topping DX5 (which is very clinical and neutral).

I want the difference between the two units to be obvious. Not like you have to squint and convince yourself it's there, or a change only evident when paying attention to a miniscule detail and A/B'ing the units within seconds - I want it to be obviously warmer sounding than the Topping unit...

Is there such a thing out there? Preferably with power to drive almost any headphone? And preferably a DAC/amp combo...?

I'm not going to go down the tube path because of how finicky and delicate they are - but I essentially want as tube-like a sound as a solid state unit can possibly get?

Warm / tubey SS headphone amplifier?….: Rebel Amp; Violectric V200, V220, V280, V281, V202 (new), V222 (new); Pass Labs HPA-1 ($$$). EDIT: HeadAmp Gilmore Lite II (with Golden Reference p/s/u).

 

[bagwell359]

Warm / tubey SS headphone amplifier?….: Rebel Amp; Violectric V200, V220, V280, V281, V202 (new), V222 (new); Pass Labs HPA-1 ($$$). EDIT: HeadAmp Gilmore Lite II (with Golden Reference p/s/u).

Generally all discrete. FETS and similar; The best: FirstWatt (Pass) SIT and F series - quite $$. Not headphone amps but carefully built low watt models.

 

[Loftprojection]

I think a lot of us tube amp sound lovers would be ever grateful if such a SS amp existed, at least I would! Hahaha. At a certain time I was tempted to try the Pass Labs HPA-1 from all the great reviews it received but finaly chickened out and stick with my beloved class A EL84 goey tube amp fed by the MHDT NOS tube DAC. As you can see I really love the tube sound. Sorry for not being more help for you but I’ll keep following your very interesting thread.

 

[jonathan c]

I think a lot of us tube amp sound lovers would be ever grateful if such a SS amp existed, at least I would! Hahaha. At a certain time I was tempted to try the Pass Labs HPA-1 from all the great reviews it received but finaly chickened out and stick with my beloved class A EL84 goey tube amp fed by the MHDT NOS tube DAC. As you can see I really love the tube sound. Sorry for not being more help for you but I’ll keep following your very interesting thread.

Pass Labs HPA-1 fed by MHDT Orchid (with a Western Electric 396A + adapter) would not be too shabby…

 

[nieveulv]

Warm sounding i would say from what i heard its the wells audio milo.
Most tooby sounding would go to the denafrips artemis for my ears and system

 

[sacd lover]

Warm to me means rich and full bodied tonally. For that sound, which is what I like, I use a Modi Multibit or 1865 NOS dac paired with a DIY Whammy or DIY M cubed/ M^3 SS amp. The Garage 1217 Polaris is a very good choice too although I always end up using the other two amps most of the time.
I find the inexpensive Monoprice Liquid Spark exceptionally good for the price and use the amp more than my Asgard 3 or the Polaris because it pairs so well with my MP planar headphones. Don't let the price fool you the Spark is warm,powerful and the best $100 I ever spent on audio. The Spark is also a really good preamp I use to drive a 12V6 PP amp in my radio setup.

 

[paradoxper]

Generally all discrete. FETS and similar; The best: FirstWatt (Pass) SIT and F series - quite $$. Not headphone amps but carefully built low watt models.

This is good. I'd add B24 and B22. Kinki M1. DIY is where you should go a bunch of these other amps listed aren't warm in the sense or just subpar.

 

[chesebert]

M^3 is definitely the warmest amp I have right now. You can make it as warm or as fast using different opamps. I would also say mojo OG is pretty warm as well. I use mojo OG with M^3 for double coziness

 

[dstarr3]

Singxer SA-1. Very warm and musical.

 

[Mark200]

Singxer SA-1. Very warm and musical.

I bought a Singxer SA-1 and it produced a highly veiled sound that was the equivalent of listening to music with a condom. It wasn't the real thing. Granted, I did not do the internal jumper mod to bypass the capacitors. I sold it and took a $200 loss. My previous headphone amp before that was 100% Class A (Creek OBH-11 SE, circa 1998), which had smoothness and detail, something that I did not find in the Singxer SA-1.

I suspect that the Schiit Lyr+, hybrid headphone amp with tube pre-amp stage and solid-state power output stage might be a better solution. This gives the owner a way to tweak the warmth with the selection of different tubes, and only one tube is needed. There are plenty of discussions on this forum of various tubes to try, based on what level of warmth or neutrality one wants. The Lyr+ can also be run in 100% solid state mode. However, I have not tried the Lyr+ myself.

 

[Shane D]

I would second jonathan c's recommendation. I have a Violectric V220 (stripped down V281) and the sound is warmer and softer than my tube amp. It is a great alternative to my iFi amp.

You could probably get a pretty good price on used as they are a few years old.

 

[OnlySoMany]

Definitely a tube amp for sure. For soild state I'd say violectric, and they can be found used fairly cheap. Also, I know it's controversial, but cables can also play a part. When I switched from audioquest, to transparent, to chord cables, they all sounded different. Audioquest is more punchy, transparent is neutral, chord is analytical.

 

[cactus_farmer]

Is Schiit Audio stuff (Jotunheim, Asgard) warm? Or just neutral like everything else

 

[OnlySoMany]

Is Schiit Audio stuff (Jotunheim, Asgard) warm? Or just neutral like everything else

I've had good luck with schiit audio. It's very good for the price. Jot 2 is a great little piece. Still have one, sounds slightly warm and smooth. Bang for the buck is definitely there.